Council Rock Keeps Mask-Optional Policy For Start Of School Year

NEWTOWN, PA — Students and staff in the Council Rock School District will not be required to wear masks when they return to class next week, after the school board decided Thursday against changing the district's mask-optional policy for at least the first week of the new school year.

The school board voted 8-1 to approve several changes to the district's health and safety plan for the 2021-22 school year, but did not alter its mask-optional policy as part of that vote.

Board members voted to relaunch the district’s COVID-19 dashboard to provide regular updates on case counts. They also approved provisions that call for the Bucks County to notify the district of positive coronavirus cases in its schools and for the district to notify families of students who came into close contact with confirmed cases.

The vote came after the Council Rock school board heard from dozens of parents and community members during its meeting Thursday, which lasted five and a half hours. The board held the special meeting to review its mask-optional policy after the Bucks County Health Department altered its guidance for how schools should operate amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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The Bucks County Health Department and its director, David Damsker, advocated throughout the summer for schools to have mask-optional policies but changed their stance last week after local hospital representatives voiced concerns about their ability to handle a surge in pediatric cases "of any type."

Acting Pennsylvania Health Secretary Allison Beam delivered a public rebuke to Bucks County officials earlier this week, saying their previous reopening guidance was "alarming" and "disregarded evidence-based public health practices." Beam also warned officials that mask-optional policies could force schools to revert to virtual instruction due to increased coronavirus-case numbers.

Numerous parents and three students spoke in favor of the district’s mask-optional policy during the first hour of public comment, questioning scientific studies about the coronavirus, calling masks an attack on personal freedoms and urging the board to let families make their own health decisions.

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“This decision to put a mask on any child’s face should simply be that of the parent,” Doug Danese, of Newtown, told the board. “They are not the teachers’ kids, they are not the board’s kids, they are our kids.”

“The last 18 months have been emotionally challenging to every single student in your district. Masking our children is dividing them,” he continued. “Give the parents the choice.”

Much of the following two hours of public comment was dominated by parents and community members urging the board to make masks mandatory for the start of the school year, a policy backed by public health officials at all levels.

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“If you vote against mandatory masks, you are essentially voting against the medical advice and medical consensus” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, “and now the Bucks County Health Department,” Michael Mandel, of Northampton, told board members Thursday.

“If you vote no against the mandatory masks, you’re going to have to answer why; because there’s not one of you up there that’s more qualified than any of those organizations,” he said.

Denise Brooks was the only member of the Council Rock school board to vote Thursday against adding tracking and contact tracing measures to the district's health and safety plan, as she felt those measures were not enough to ensure students' safety.

Brooks said she voted for the district to adopt a mask-optional policy in the spring “because all the indicators related to COVID were pointing the right direction,” with vaccination rates increasing and a low level of transmission in the Council Rock community.

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“Unfortunately, those former positive signs are gone,” she said Thursday, explaining her vote.

“The mandatory-mask plan is our best option, not only because it will keep case counts down, but it will keep more kids in school by minimizing the number of close contacts that would be required to quarantine,” Brooks said.

Several other board members said Thursday they are open to enhancing the district's health and safety plan with a "targeted approach" to establish temporary, metrics-based mitigations. The Council Rock school board is expected to review its health and safety plan once again at its Sept. 9 meeting.

* This article has been updated to clarify details of the Council Rock school board's vote Thursday. The board voted 8-1 to add tracking measures to its current health and safety plan, which includes a mask-optional policy. The board did not take any action on the mask-optional policy, leaving it in place for the start of the 2021-22 school year.